Since 2016, Hal High teacher Christine Carr has been helping students reach their potential by developing important life skills, on top of academics, through the school’s popular leadership class.

Running each semester, students are encouraged to identify issues, projects or causes they’re passionate about – and challenged to come up with plans to initiate change or growth – either at school, or in the Haliburton County community.

Carr was recognized for her work during a recent Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) meeting in Minden Oct. 22, where she received a director’s recognition for innovation and leadership award from Wes Hahn. Carr was nominated by HHSS principal Jenn Mills.

“Christine goes above and beyond in everything she does for our students… she provides experiences and opportunities for students to connect in school life, to become leaders for themselves and others,” Mills wrote in her submission. “Christine has taken the curricular expectations to another level, focused on continuous school improvement and inspiring students to be better.”

Speaking to The Highlander this week, Carr said she was honoured to receive the award, saying she’s carrying on the work started by Paul Longo, who launched the leadership class and ran it for several years before passing it off in 2023.

Also teaching French and English at HHSS, one of Carr’s first influences was to make the leadership class bilingual. That’s been a big hit, she said.

The class typically attracts around 20 students each semester – Carr said there are 16 enrolled now, but there were more than 30 participants last spring.

No matter the class size, her approach is always the same.

“We start the course by brainstorming everything the students are interested in and passionate about in the community, within the school, and what they’d like to see change. Then we make committees based on that,” Carr said. “Then they get to work tackling their project. Committees learn to set action plans, goals, and how to follow through.

“We focus a lot on finding out what everyone’s individual skills are, then building on that to help them take on leadership roles, increasing confidence, and inspiring them to do the work in whatever their chosen area is,” she added.

Last year, one group floated the idea of cleaning up the school courtyard, which was overgrown with weeds and had been unused for years and turn it into an outdoor classroom. Students worked with businesses in the community to bring their vision to life, with the new space opening last June.

Another committee wanted to raise money to help students cover costs associated with playing school sports. They brought in $1,000, which was used to cover uniforms, registration fees, and transportation costs.

“It teaches them skills they can use for the rest of their lives – they can be applied to wherever they go after high school. The course is about equipping youth with what they need to be successful and have the confidence to know they can make a difference. They just have to put themselves out there and try,” Carr said.

One of the focuses this semester is on boosting school spirit – the class recently hosted a themed ‘Halloween Week’ at the school and organized a dance. Students are also assisting with upcoming school awards and Remembrance Day assemblies.

In early October, Hahn and 25 students attended a retreat at Camp White Pine in Haliburton. The Canadian Student Leadership conference brought 500 students and 100 staff from across the country to the Highlands for a weekend of learning and networking.

“Christine’s involvement in the conference demonstrates her innovation and leadership… to empower students to make a difference in their school and community,” Hahn said.

Belinda Wilson recalls walking into the Ardenne Abbey, near Caen, France, during the 2013 Royal Canadian Legion Ontario’s Pilgrimage of Remembrance tour.

“I just felt such evil and such overwhelming fear,” she said. “I didn’t know what had happened in this place, but I knew it was something awful.”

In June 1944, 20 Canadian soldiers were massacred in the abbey’s garden.

During orientation, Wilson learned the terrible history of the place and said it stuck with her. So much so, that it was the first song she wrote upon returning to Canada.

She was working on another tune at the time, but “all a sudden this song just pushed its way out; just fell out of my head.” This despite the fact she had been resisting it, since it brought back horrible memories and feelings. “But I couldn’t help it and so I wrote it.”

The events at Ardenne Abbey were part of the Normandy Massacres, a series of scattered killings during which up to 156 Canadian prisoners of war were murdered by soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division during the Battle of Normandy.

“Every time I sing that song, 11 years later, it still affects me,” she said.

Wilson has had people with ancestors from the massacres approach her after speaking engagements. When she apologizes, they inevitably tell her they were glad she performed it, as “it keeps them alive.”

Wilson, from Coboconk, presented ‘In the Footsteps of Heroes’ Nov. 3 at the Irondale Church. She is a Legion supporter, and military history enthusiast. The talk was part of the Service, Courage, and Sacrifices series presented by Bark Lake Cultural Developments.

Despite joining the pilgrimage in 2013, Wilson is still speaking about her experiences. She thinks she is up to 75 public engagements across Ontario, when most stop presenting after two years – when the next pilgrimage takes place.

The pilgrims go to Canadian battlefields, memorials, and cemeteries, with her trip mostly in Belgium and northern France, with a quick foray into the Netherlands.

“I always start off by telling people I am not a historian. I’m not here to give them a history lesson. If they want a history lesson, they can Google it. What I try to do through my photos, stories, songs, is help them to understand how I felt at these different places and try to evoke the importance of these stories, and of sharing these stories.”

She said every presentation is one-of-a-kind because people react, and interact, differently afterwards. People bring their own stories and memorabilia.

As a songwriter, she expresses uniquely about her experiences. “I knew there were songs to be written when I got back.”

She’ll also remember the number of times people thanked them. She recalls that at Dieppe, “people were coming up and even if you didn’t understand French, you knew what they were saying anyway. They were saying ‘thank you’, and they were trying to tell you about their grandfather, who took a Canadian soldier and hid him in a barn; their mother who prepared some quick meals when Canadian soldiers were trying to escape the Nazis. It was just ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’, and it just makes you so humble as a Canadian to be on the receiving end of that kind of gratitude.

“It’s ingrained in them, generation after generation, It’s not an obligation. It’s not something you have to do, it’s something you want to do because you feel it’s necessary, that debt can never be repaid in their opinion.”

Wilson’s message for this Remembrance Day – with the ranks of Second World War veterans nearly gone?

“Any of them who are left, find out as much as you can from them; some of them are now starting to talk about it when they wouldn’t 20-30 years ago. Hold fast to those stories. Listen to what they’re saying. Listen to how they’re saying it. Watch their eyes. So much can be told by a person’s eyes because sometimes they’re not telling you the whole story because maybe it’s too gory or maybe they don’t think it was that big a deal because they survived.

“If you have the privilege of encountering a veteran, stick out your hand and say ‘thank you’.

She quotes from the lyrics of her abbey song, “another story to tell, tell the people, tell the children, remember them well.”

By William Spotton

I walked into the small Scottish country pub for lunch and a pint… or two… maybe, at well past 1 p.m.

I had just traveled up from England searching for some family roots. Spottons allegedly originate from the village of Spott, well now that I had seen it, actually a crossroads. It was outside Dunbar, Scotland in the lowlands on the east coast.

Spottons had then headed to Ulster before heading to Canada in the 1850’s via New York then settling in the Guelph area of Ontario. I attended the University of Leuven in Belgium. It was early summer 1987. I had taken the ferry and driven over in between exam sessions. England’s liquor licence laws still had many hangovers from the Second World War. The pubs closed for the midafternoon after lunch. The lunch last call was at 2:30 p.m. I had yet to have the pleasure of imbibing in my ancestral homeland of Scotland. I went to the bar and ordered a pint of the local ale then nestled in a corner of the small establishment with an ever-present book and the pint.

The place was almost empty. It was a weekday. When I finished my pint, the barkeep leaned over the bar and asked if I wanted another. I figured that was his last call for the lunch opening. I nodded. As I sipped and read, an older gentleman shuffled in and cozied up to the bar on one of the few stools. He did not say anything nor did the barkeep. A pint was poured, then golden liquid was poured into a small wine goblet. I watched approvingly before returning to my book.

When I finished my second pint, the barkeep attentively asked if I wanted a refill. I have never worn a wristwatch; nor could I see a clock on the wall. I was puzzled. I had been nursing my pints. It had to be well past 2:30 p.m. England’s closing time. I asked, ‘Isn’t it past 2:30?’ The barkeep chuckled, ‘just up from England, are you?’ ‘Yes’ I answered as I got up to bring my sleeve to the bar. ‘We have different hours here. We are open all day’ he explained.

With only a slight hesitation, ‘Well then I will have another one”’ I placed the glass on the bar for him to refill. The older gentleman sitting at the bar had been a watching our exchange with interest. Looking at me he spoke. “you are a Canadian.’ It was not a question. It was a statement. I could not contain my surprise and my being impressed. Even with our Commonwealth cousins, Canadians were more often taken for Americans. ‘Why yes? How did you know?’ ‘Served with you lot in the war. I was in a mine sweeper. I was a fisherman.’

I looked at his weather-beaten face. He had the North Sea carved on it. Being impressed was fast morphing into awe. He continued, ‘I saw your prairie farm boys with mud still on their boots bringing those convoys in, puking their guts out in those oversized wash tubs, those corvettes. No matter how much puke, no matter how sick, they kept them coming though.’

He nodded in approval and admiration of those ‘farm boys. ‘You lot’ – somehow at 20 in 1987 I was now one of those farm boys puking their guts out as they crossed the North Atlantic in the burgeoning Royal Canadian Navy’s corvettes and other convoy small escorts ships – you lot kept us alive.’ Bravest bloody thing I have ever seen. You are going to have a real drink laddie. Pour him a Cardhu. Drink that with your ale.’

He instructed me. The barkeep poured that golden liquid into a glass for me. My first scotch courtesy of the admiration of a weather-beaten veteran of the North Sea for my fellow Canadians of 40 years past, who went from farms and hills and woods and towns of our vast land to the North Atlantic to feed and supply a besieged island nation against the Nazi holocaust.

His words echo: ‘bravest bloody thing I have ever seen.’ I pondered those words. There are so many acts of bravery, especially in war. What distinguished those ‘prairie boys’ for this veteran of the North Sea. The day in day out fear they fought in hastily- designed and built tubs. Battling the North Sea, battling their fear, battling the U-boat packs, battling seasickness and more; day in, day out.

Their bravery was not a single act of heroism. It was a choice to live in fear each day in and out of their depths of the North Atlantic, in hope of a better world. This was what awed him, and me. What else was there to say as a I mulled his words about my countrymen and women of 40 years ago?

‘Bravest bloody thing I have ever seen.’ There is one more thing to say: ‘Thank you.’ William Spotton Spott, Scotland 1987/ Farquhar Lake, 2023.

John Watson chose Haliburton County five years ago, to be close to nature and “a great community of people.”

He was embraced back Oct. 25, being named Highlander of the Year by the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce.

As Dysart’s environmental waste manager, and a trainer with Sweat Social Health and Fitness, Watson told The Highlander in an interview, “I just feel very lucky in both of my jobs that I get to help and contribute to our community.”

He admitted the award came as a “shock” saying he was honoured just to be nominated “and associated with all the other nominees, such powerhouses in our community. I am just feeling very blessed and honoured by this award.”

Some of the highlights of his day job this past year have included The Great Haliburton Clothing Swap in partnership with Haliburton School of Art + Design. He said it “was exciting and new for our community and a great way to divert textiles away from landfill.”

He is also proud of the outdoor battery recycling collection bin on York Street, only the second municipality in Ontario to have one. “It’s exciting and an innovative way to make recycling of household batteries more accessible to people.” Watson said.

Earlier this summer, the Municipal Waste Association, for which he is on the board, presented Dysart with a gold campaign award for its 2023 public awareness campaign “Recycling Is Easy!”, that encouraged the proper recycling of food and beverage cartons.

On a smaller scale, Watson says it’s important to preach the message early. Last week, he was at Stuart Baker Elementary School teaching Kindergarten to Grade 3 students about recycling, and encouraging them to take the message home.

He was delighted to see his other boss, Chelsea Adamson at Sweat Social, win businesswoman of the year.

“It’s awesome to be part of that team and help train people in our community in health and fitness,” Watson said.

“There’s lots of people who have success stories; improved resting heart rates, becoming much more stable and in a healthy range, people who have lost fat, people who have lost weight, people who have gained muscle and strength. We’re very goaloriented, thinking about individuals and what they are trying to achieve, so setting them up for success.”

Watson’s other fun community involvement this year was stage manager for the Burlesque Ball.

The not-for-profit award went to the Haliburton Highlands Health Services Foundation.

Executive-director Melanie Klodt Wong said it had been an “incredible” year.

“Almost exactly a year ago, the ball started rolling on what has become the biggest and fastest campaign the HHHS Foundation has ever seen. This community raised the funds to bring CT and mammography to the County as well as replace other vital equipment – raising over $5 million dollars in less than a year – incredible.”

Meanwhile, the warden’s award went to the Haliburton County Home Builders Association.

President Kevin Hodgkinson said it was “an honour.”

“The hard work of our executive officer, Aggie Tose, and our executive has shown that as an association we are willing to be an active part of our community,” he said.

In the last two years, they have started a high school committee which focuses on promoting the trades to students. This is done by having a bus trip that takes the students to multiple job sites and businesses that can shed some light on one of the biggest industries in the County. They also talk to students about different avenues in the trades, such as project management, design, mechanics, electrical and HVAC. “We have had a great response to this program and hope to build off the results.”

The association has also worked with municipalities to build a relationship to be better engaged in the building department process and pass information to members and the community about changes that happen with bylaws and the building code.” Hodgkinson said.

The provincial government has appointed a temporary supervisor for the Kawartha Haliburton Children’s Aid Society (KHCAS), saying, “we no longer have confidence in the society’s ability to address its operational issues and growing deficit.”

Minister of children, community and social services (MCCSS), Michael Parsa, made the announcement Oct. 23. On the same day, the board of KHCAS announced they had tendered their resignations.

Parsa said he’d appointed Rosaleen Cutler as supervisor to oversee and operate the society, “and help ensure the safety and well-being of children and youth receiving services.”

He added, “although the government does not direct children’s aid societies on placement decisions, we require them to ensure placements are safe, appropriate and meet the child’s needs. That’s not an option, it’s the law.”

The MCCSS said it had provided $4.6 million over and above the KHCAS’ funding allocation since 2020-21, while working with the society to address findings of various ministry-led reviews, they say have “identified a number of significant risks related to the overall operations and financial management of the society.

“In addition, the ministry does not have confidence in the society’s ability to make the necessary strategic decisions to address its growing deficit and operational issues, which may negatively impact the safety and quality of protection services that vulnerable children and youth depend on.”

Cutler will be responsible for overseeing the operations and managing the society in place of the board of directors and executive director, for up to a year.

Board ‘worked diligently’ to avert this

The minister said that during her term, Cutler will address the society’s “growing financial and operational issues and reinstate good governance and fiscal sustainability, while ensuring the continuity of services to children, youth and families.”

The board told media Oct. 23, “it is with profound sadness” they had tendered their resignations. They were notified a day earlier of the appointment of a supervisor.

“Board members can no longer meet their fiduciary duty when this happens. The board worked diligently to avert this from happening; however, the difficulties we experienced are echoed across the sector and were not repairable within the structures and guidelines we must work within.

“Although there will be difficult days ahead, we know that the staff and leadership team at Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society will continue to provide excellent care and service to the children, youth and families in our communities.”

In the summer, KHCAS announced plans to shutter its branch at 73 Victoria St. in Haliburton next year, and drop one fulltime staff member, while committing to still offering its services across the County. They were talking to partners about accessing space elsewhere. The changes were to have taken effect for April 1, 2025.

The KHCAS is currently working with approximately 30 families in Haliburton. Head office is in Peterborough with another branch in Lindsay. Most of the outreach work is done in client family homes, or within the community. They have remote work agreements with staff as a result of COVID and most employees work from home, with access to the office.

The KHCAS attributed the deficit to years of funding reductions, increased costs, increased complexity of need, and the lack of services required by legislation within the funding allocation.

100 Women Who Care Haliburton County have donated $10,300 to Turtle Guardians (TG) following an October meeting that attracted more than 50 members. Co-chair, Leslie Banner, said they now have more than 100 caring women who support charities in Haliburton County three times a year by donating $100 each time.

Turtle Guardians founder Leora Berman said they are developing curriculum for kids across the Highlands, and specifically Haliburton. She said they were working with Trillium Lakelands District School Board, who are partners of Turtle Guardians, but also “with a bunch of local teachers.

We really want to connect kids to nature, give them a sense of groundedness and confidence, and also really feel they’re part of the community. So, we’re looking at doing a passport to turtles, or nature, in Haliburton through this curriculum.

Meanwhile, 100 Women now has 114 members with 11 of those being in a team of two.

They will continue to invite new members, until they hit 200 and can split into two groups.

Big Hawk Lake Marina owner Sabrina Richards told the Haliburton County Housing Summit Oct. 24 she lives with four men – all employed by the marina – who can’t find housing.

She said the mechanic, apprentice, co-op student, and maintenance man, have all come from outside of the County since there is a shortage of skilled tradespeople. And while they are willing to work and live in Algonquin Highlands, the problem is “where to live?

“I’m looking to stop that and build a place for them to live on my land,” Richards said, adding, “there’s challenges with that. I live on water. The topography means most of my land that is accessible to build on is only accessed by a seasonal road. I’m looking at converting existing other buildings I have; however, it runs into needing a survey, a zoning amendment, change of use permits for the buildings, building permits, a review of septic; a lot right off the bat I have to face before I can even get there.”

She said she is on the wait list to have her property surveyed and hopes things will speed up after that. “But in the meantime, I’m living with four men.”

The all-day forum at the Minden Hills Community Centre was hosted by Places for People. It attracted speakers from the Town of Collingwood and Frontenac County, and featured a panel on working housing and another on densification.

Worker housing panelist, Xavier Masse, the dean of Haliburton School of Art + Design, updated a mix of municipal staff and councillors, as well as the general public, on the student residence. He said the builders will hand over the project to Fleming College on Dec. 20.

It consists of 47 beds in 26 units, with shared dining and living rooms. The college will have to furnish the residence and add finishing touches for a planned Spring intake.

Masse said they are discussing other uses for the residence when not being used by students, such as corporate retreats from the GTA with custom-made educational programs; and a lifelong learning academy model.

County of Haliburton CAO Gary Dyke, another worker housing panelist, brought the room up to speed on plans for the Wee Care property in Haliburton. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity, it hopes to broker housing on the site, as well as an expanded daycare.

They are looking at 68 residential units in addition to bolstering the daycare. Dyke said the two go hand-in-hand because if you are trying to attract workers, you have to support their families as well. It would also supply housing for daycare workers themselves.

He said they are going through the technical phase of the project now.

Dyke added that after listening to Collingwood and Frontenac staffers, it’s about innovation municipalities can bring to the table to address the housing issue.

“There is no one fix, and nobody can do it on their own.” He said municipalities can be nimbler. CAOs and planning staff across the County will soon be re-examining planning programs, identifying obstacles and coming up with strategies to eliminate or mitigate them. He added it’s about advocacy via the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus and Rural Ontario Municipal Association. He also poked the province and its “archaic” criteria of selling Crown land at market value. If earmarked for housing, he said the province should charge nothing or a reduced rate for available land.

“When you are managing a city or a county, things like housing and workforce, they’re key elements to economic development. It’s not just bringing in a new industry. It’s creating the atmosphere by which the existing industry can maintain and thrive, and that’s having workers and having places for workers to live,” Dyke said.